I suppose you DO understand the pain, suffering and degradation of slavery? Tell me, when were YOU a slave? If you haven't been one yourself you have no idea what you are talking about. To say that only White people lack the understanding of the pain, suffering and degradation of slavery is about as condescending a piece of hubris as I have read in a while.
Most of the slaves in this country at the time of the War were descendents of slaves who were purchased in Africa, having been enslaved there by other blacks. The number of blacks actually enslaved by White Europeans is tiny compared to the number that were enslaved by their fellow blacks.
Speaking of reparations; the 1830 census lists 1,276 black slave owners. According to that bastion of conservative thought, MSNBC, about half of them "owned" a family member or two. The rest bought and sold their fellow blacks just like their white counterparts in the US, and like their black counterparts in Africa did and continue to do to this day. Gonna get some of them there reparations from them, also?
During the period of about 1000 AD until the 1800's, more than one and a half million European whites were kidnapped and enslaved by Muslim slavers, many of whom were black. How about I get some reparations from Black Lives Matter for them?
Slavery has been an accepted fact of life from the beginning of recorded history and doubtless before. The FACT is that more blacks were enslaved by their fellow blacks than were ever enslaved by White Europeans. How about you head over to the Mother Country and ask some of the more enlightened black despots for some reparations while you are at it? Every evil you say that blacks suffered at the hands of whites in the US were suffered in Africa at the hands of other blacks. Probably more so, since slaves in Africa were not as valuable as slaves in the US, and since slavery has existed in African for thousands of years before there even WAS a US.
Why don't you head for South America, where slavery continued until the 1880's, and where most of the slaves brought from Africa ended up, and ask them for reparations? I recommend Venezuela with it's enlightened leadership as a prime place to begin.

Oh, yes, the third verse of the Star Spangled Banner that you claim somehow glorifies slavery. Here is the third stanza. perhaps you can show me where it shows slavery in a favorable light......

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Jedi Knight?
Get over it, Obiwan Butthurt.

Loki - my favorite demon! Here's your racism in the 3rd verse: "No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave," - but I already know that your limited education will prevent you from understanding it. I am a descendant of African slaves brought to this country in chains - and yes I do know the suffering, pain, and humiliation caused by slavery and the residual effects of racism. I never said NO white person could understand -that is your limited and selective vision and lack of comprehension skills working against you as usual. I gratefully applaud the many white people who knew that slavery was wrong and worked to abolish it. You have chosen to be the Devil's Advocate because somewhere along the way your mind was poisoned with hate. Nevertheless, I still pray for you because only God can help a person with your serious mental issues.

No! The Anthem remains the same because there is nothing in verses 3 & 4 that a rational person can take offense to. Do you think if we eliminate the word, "slavery" from the dictionary it eliminates the act? Your thinking is so shallow that if you were tossed into the ocean you wouldn't get your feet wet. Have you ever met a black that was grateful that a couple hundred thousand white Americans gave up their lives to free them? I hope that some day we erect statues of dismembered children torn from the wombs of there mother's to remind us of the holocaust of abortion. There are some acts worse than slavery and they're supported by the very same political party that advocated slavery. They have a history of dehumanizing people.

Loki - my favorite demon! Here's your racism in the 3rd verse: "No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave," - but I already know that your limited education will prevent you from understanding it. I am a descendant of African slaves brought to this country in chains - and yes I do know the suffering, pain, and humiliation caused by slavery and the residual effects of racism. I never said NO white person could understand -that is your limited and selective vision and lack of comprehension skills working against you as usual. I gratefully applaud the many white people who knew that slavery was wrong and worked to abolish it. You have chosen to be the Devil's Advocate because somewhere along the way your mind was poisoned with hate. Nevertheless, I still pray for you because only God can help a person with your serious mental issues.

Actually, what you said was this....


"When you say 'rational person' are you limiting your definition to white people who really don't understand the pain, suffering, and degradation of slavery?"
You gratefully applaud the many white people who knew slavery was wrong and worked to abolish it, yet you are remarkably silent about the blacks in Africa who made slavery in the US possible. Make no mistake; nearly every black slave brought to what became the US was already a slave, made so by other blacks, just as they had done for a couple of thousand years at least before the first white European ever set foot in sub-Saharan Africa. You talk about the evils of slavery as practiced in the US, but ignore the far worse evils of slavery under your fellow blacks in Africa. You blame the United States for all these evils and yet you give every other country and race in the world a pass.
As to your other, simply mentioning the word "slave" is not racist; nor is it promoting slavery, other than in your own disturbingly empty noggin.
Your own racism and bigotry is showing. You are re-writing selected parts of history to suit your own interpretation.

The lyric in the 3rd verse actually does more than simply mention slavery....it makes it clear that there was to be no "refuge" - no safe place for the hireling or slave - which in fact is a promotion of slavery. I know thinking rationally makes your head hurt, but give it a try sometimes - you may be surprised!
As I have told you before: two wrongs do not a right make! Even if Africans sold blacks into slavery that would not have been possible if there were no buyers -so that argument is immaterial and irrelevant. Actually, there were millions of blacks kidnapped and stolen from Africa with absolutely no help from the native Africans. Once again, your argument is juvenile....you are welcomed to try again.

The lyric in the 3rd verse actually does more than simply mention slavery....it makes it clear that there was to be no "refuge" - no safe place for the hireling or slave - which in fact is a promotion of slavery. I know thinking rationally makes your head hurt, but give it a try sometimes - you may be surprised!
As I have told you before: two wrongs do not a right make! Even if Africans sold blacks into slavery that would not have been possible if there were no buyers -so that argument is immaterial and irrelevant. Actually, there were millions of blacks kidnapped and stolen from Africa with absolutely no help from the native Africans. Once again, your argument is juvenile....you are welcomed to try again.